Would it be bad if MU lost early in BET??

[Steve Buscemi]

Not sure if this has been brought up yet...

Going into the '03 tournament, MU was number one in the C-USA and was on a win streak comparable to the one we're in right now.  However, they lost in the quarterfinals of the C-USA tourney to UAB.  I have no problem believing that that early loss (with the obvious help of D.Wade) helped them get to the Final Four, 2 weeks later.  So, would a loss and an ensuing week-off rest be bad for our team?

I'm not saying I want them to lose, but I don't think I would be overly upset. It might also keep us at a 10+ seed if we do lose early... much better than a 8 or 9 seed.

Burn me.

[PunjabiBO]

Yes, it would. We need at least one win for Dance seeding. Make no mistake, we are not that well regarded.

[Steve Buscemi]

this is all based on the prediction that we kick the s**t outta N.D.

[NersEllenson]

Yes, it would. We need at least one win for Dance seeding. Make no mistake, we are not that well regarded.

I don't know that we can say how the tourney committee will regard us..Joe Lunardi is a questionable source for seeding information.  What is true is that we are 0-5 vs. Teams with RPI's 1-10, 2-1 against teams with RPI's 10-20, and 7-1 against teams RPI 20-100.  Think about that for a minute, MU is 9-2 against teams with RPI's between 10-100.  That said the comittee generally only looks at at Team vs Top 50 and Top 100..but it is deceiving with MU due to us being 0-5 against the Top 10...which I think many teams would be..not to mention 3 of thos 5 losses came by a total of 5 points.

[GOO]

If we beat ND, I don't really care what we do in the BE tourni. I wouldn't mind winning a game in the BE tourni, and then loosing one.  Unless we win the whole thing, I'd rather loose early on.  Playing for the championship, would leave this team tired going into a possible Wednesday game in the NCAA's.  A BE title would be great, but short of that it is better for us to loose in the second round, in my opinion.  After the first game, I hope we play EW and JC and DB a lot to keep some of the starters fresh.
If we could go to a 5 or 6 seed by winning a couple of games, I'm for it, but since that isn't likely unless we win the whole thing, better off loosing.  I've always thought that, for mid-seed teams or lower seed teams, loosing isn't all that bad. Come home early and leave for the NCAA's fresh and focused and caught up on school work, etc.  I won't care if we win or loose a especially a second BE game, unless we loose to ND, then I want us to win 2 BE games.  Don't want to get left out of the NCAA's somehow.

[bilsu]

I have to believe a 5th place finish in the Big East gets us in, especially since we hold wins over Louisville, Georgetown and Uconn. So unless they are only taking four teams from Big East we are in. I suppose somebody could win the tournament title and leap ahead of us. We need to win in Big East tournament because of seeding. I am still hoping for a 6th seed. The last two years we got six seeds witg 24-9 records, but we were seeded at 6th, because we had key injuries. Beat Notre Dame and win two in tourney, I will be expecting a 6th seed. Assume we are an 8 seed now and we move up one with every win and move down one with every loss. Notre Dame win takes us to 7, first tournament win takes us to 6, third tournament win takes us to 5, loss in third round takes us back to 6th.

[Ahoya06]

I agree with the OP's comments about '03. However, this year, there's a bit more at stake seeding-wise, so I'd like to win one, maybe two games in the BET.

[MU B2002]

Playing for the championship, would leave this team tired going into a possible Wednesday game in the NCAA's. 

Did I miss a schedule change, isn't the 1st round Thur/Fri?

[chapman]

How about playing four games in four days and winning the BET, enjoying the 4-5 days off which is more than we've had for a long time, and getting ready to play a 12-13 seed.

[flash]

agreed 100% I want us to win the big east tounament if possible.

[Nukem2]

Just keep winning and get the best seed possible.

[MU111]

Did I miss a schedule change, isn't the 1st round Thur/Fri?

You're right-- the first round is Thursday and Friday.

[Coleman]

1 one more game in the BET isn't gonna make a difference in terms of rest, we get the entire next week off. We need 1 win for seeding (if we lose against ND and lose our first game in the BET, we will be stuck with a 10-11), 2 would be nice (I think we can handle Pitt if we get them again).

[Benny B]

EDIT: If losing in the first round of the BET helps MU avoid the 8/9 seed, I'm all for it I can live with it.

[damuts222]

Lets just win, it gives us a better chance at going deeper in the tournament. We can't control who we play, but we can (to a certain extent) control our seed.

[TallTitan34]

At the very least, even if we won the BET, we would have 4 days off between the end of that and the NCAA Tournament.  Considering the team will probably practice on off days anyway, I don't think it would hurt to mae a BET run.

[PGsHeroes32]

I agree with TallTitan. I would also like to know if you people considering losing being a bad thing are nuts. Not only does the more we win get us a better seed but it also lets us play more. Meaning we can watch our team more. We are not going to win the national title, sweet 16 is realistically our best shot if we can get a good seed by winning. We could very easily be 1 and done in the NCAA tourney, so why would anyone root for us to lose in the BET. I for 1 do not want to just see 2 more games after saturday. You are insane if you think losing is a good thing.

[LON]

I agree with TallTitan. I would also like to know if you people considering losing being a bad thing are nuts. Not only does the more we win get us a better seed but it also lets us play more. Meaning we can watch our team more. We are not going to win the national title, sweet 16 is realistically our best shot if we can get a good seed by winning. We could very easily be 1 and done in the NCAA tourney, so why would anyone root for us to lose in the BET. I for 1 do not want to just see 2 more games after saturday. You are insane if you think losing is a good thing.

yep, +1

For those that want us to lose (or prefer it, what have you):

Did you ever play competitive sports?  In a tournament?

You want to win every game or I don't want you on my team, you can rest when you're dead.

[cheebs09]

At the very least I hope we win our first game and take it to the wire against Pitt or WVU. The most important thing is to stay out of that 8-9 game. I think by the above scenario we put ourselves in the 7 seed and possibly a 6 (I'm assuming we beat ND which is obviously no given). If we lose the ND and first round games we would probably be lower than the 8-9, but I'd rather come in winning as a 8-9 than a 10 or 11 having lost 2 winnable games. Also Nova, WVU and Pitt are all in that 2 and 3 seed range. If the BE has 2 number 2 seeds, we might have to be put into the 8-9 game for seeding purposes and have to avoid the 7-10. However, a decent run could get us solidly as a 6 and hopefully those 3 land a couple 2 seeds rather than the majority in as 3 seeds bumping us back to 7.